Moving to London (eek!)

DonkeyKong77

Good morning

I am probably going to move down to London (even though it's not officially confirmed :wall: ) but I best start thinking about the practicalities and such like, but not being the best at organising my life at times I am calling on your knowledge of the capital or making a move out of a locality that you know to somewhere rather disorientating :_pale_:

I am moving down due to work, and it's not a permanent deal but who knows, at this stage I am quite looking forward to it but I haven't a clue as to where I would live, which I guess is kinda important. I have nightmare images of long commutes into South Kensington, elbows out, having to barge past people to get on tubes, trains and buses....if I could walk to work, that would be ideal but all I know about that London is that area is rather expensive, so I have scratched any thoughts of such nonsense

Barring one person, I know no-one in the city and that freaks me out :oops: just because I like it up here, friends and family are close-ish and I know the area which always helps.

So a few question I have whirling in my mind are ...

North or South of the river (I have no idea what that even means but that is what someone asked when I first suggested I may have to move down), the only time I have seen it pictorially is on the Eastenders theme music!
Which areas within easy commuting distance to South Kensington, which won't take me forever to get there (to be fair I am used to longish commutes and don't mind the "thinking" time that it allows)
To flatshare or not to flatshare? Now my initial though is that I should, for financial as well as social reasons but where the heck do I look? I know there is Gumtree but is purely down to pot-luck?
Arts, culture and space...now I quite like switching from hermit mode to culture vulture, so I am sure London has enough going on to keep anyone entertained but do you reckon it’s possible to get some “space”. I don’t know if that makes sense but I mean in the proverbial, as well as the physical sense.
Sorry for the somewhat basic nature of this post but my head is spinning a bit and it needs calming down

<sebb>

What is your budget for rent?

BitterAndTwisted

Have a look at a tube-map and perhaps check out the areas on the Piccadilly line either going west, perhaps to Hammersmith/Acton Town or north around the Holloway Road area.

Average rents in a flat or house-share in those areas will be around £100-£150 a week and expect your commuting costs to be £30 a week.

MrsAmanda_2

Given you don't know people, a flat-share might be a good idea, even if just in the short-term whilst you find your feet.
It's much cheaper to do it that way than rent on your own, especially if you do fancy being within a walking distance commute to South Ken.

When I split up with my boyfriend (back in 1995, showing my age), I scoured Loot for ages. Landed on my feet and got a 4-bed flatshare just off Oxford St, living with 3 other people. Ended up living there for 8yrs, and made really good friends of my flatmates.

flossy_splodge

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Have a look at a tube-map and perhaps check out the areas on the Piccadilly line either going west, perhaps to Hammersmith/Acton Town or north around the Holloway Road area.

Average rents in a flat or house-share in those areas will be around £100-£150 a week and expect your commuting costs to be £30 a week.

Gosh, those figures sound remarkably cheap. When my DD was sharing up to recently in North London she was paying over £1000 per month.
Should be prepared for the costs to be rather higher if I were you.
Good Luck.

cheap_charlie

I don't believe it's "north or south" - it's "east or west".

I lived in London for 14 years and trust me, west is best and I agree with the post above suggesting the Piccadilly line to the west, and Hammersmith in particular.

Flatshare is a good way to get to know people but be warned - sometimes you might find yourself "the odd one out" - this happened to me and no-one made the slightest attempt to get to know me or make me welcome. Needless to say that flatshare didn't last long - so make sure you don't just view the flat - you view the people you will be sharing with too.

BitterAndTwisted

flossy_splodge wrote: »

Gosh, those figures sound remarkably cheap. When my DD was sharing up to recently in North London she was paying over £1000 per month.
Should be prepared for the costs to be rather higher if I were you.
Good Luck.

Good grief! Where was she sharing, Hampstead?

OP take a look at spareroom.co.uk and perhaps enter the post-codes W14 (West Kensington on Piccadilly & District lines) W6 (Hammersmith also on Picc & District) or even W4 (Chiswick on District line, 3 or 4 diff stations. Nice, safe and close to Sth Ken but expensive) and see what rents show up for shares. This should give you a fair idea of what to expect to pay per month.

Oldernotwiser

cheap_charlie wrote: »

Flatshare is a good way to get to know people but be warned - sometimes you might find yourself "the odd one out" - this happened to me and no-one made the slightest attempt to get to know me or make me welcome. Needless to say that flatshare didn't last long - so make sure you don't just view the flat - you view the people you will be sharing with too.

It's a while since I flat shared in London but my memory was that it's more a question of being selected by the existing sharers, rather than being choosy yourself. Think the relevant scenes in "Shallow Grave" and you'll be on the right lines.

MrsAmanda_2

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

It's a while since I flat shared in London but my memory was that it's more a question of being selected by the existing sharers, rather than being choosy yourself. Think the relevant scenes in "Shallow Grave" and you'll be on the right lines.

Well, yeah, my flatmates and I were a bit guilty of that :-)

googler

Look at the tube map - if you want to get to S Kensington, you want your flat to be within easy reach of a tube station that's on the same line as it, so you don't have any tube changes along the way.

kmmr

Firstly, don't stress too much about commuting. It's not as bad as people say - I commute from West Ken to Canary Wharf every day, and you just get used to it. Read the paper, do the sudokus, listen to music... it's actually quite relaxing time if you just block out all the people!

Anyway, having said that, being close to work is always nice. There are lots of Aussie/Kiwi houseshares about that will be fun to live in, although,frankly, it depends on your age!

£150 feels like the lower end of share housing costs in West London. I would be dubious about anything cheaper than that, as you run the risk of living in a run down place, where they rent out oall rooms (including the living room) and living in a house with no communal area to relax and watch TV, socialise, etc, can be pretty soul destroying. Not saying you can't find somewhere good for that money, but it will be harder and you need to trust your gut on what you can live with.

With a two minute review of Gumtree - this looks nice: http://www.gumtree.com/london/69/66735969.html